Friday, 31 May 2013

One of my pet peeves is the continued inability of many people to distinguish between energy and electricity. Headlines of “100% renewable energy by 2030″ abound when they should say “100% renewable electricity.” This is not a trivial mistake, after all the majority of energy use is not in the form of electricity. And quite remarkably confusion energy and electricity may have resulted in Tony Blair signing up to the EU getting 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020. Apparently, he thought he was signing up to 20% renewable electricity, not energy. Whether this actually occurred has been a point of a little debate, but the evidence seems to indicate that it did.

According to the government’s chief scientist at the time, Sir David King, Blair thought he was signing up to 20% renewable energy. However, some figures such as Blairite commentator John Rentoul have disputed that this occurred. David King’s view however seems to be backed up today by the BBC’s Roger Harrabin, who writes:

When the EU set its 2020 target of sourcing 20% of energy from renewables, some leaders thought the deal referred to electricity. (I know because I spoke to Downing Street on the day of the decision).

In fact, it included energy for transport and heating too, so the bar was set much higher than anticipated. Policies create opportunities and entrepreneurs were quick to exploit the potential of wood power, which will soon create more renewable energy in the UK than wind and solar combined.

The potential for UK ports and harbours to generate their own electricity through small scale wind power has been highlighted by wind developer e-Genas at the UK Harbour Masters’ Association’s recent meeting in Edinburgh.

e-Gen believes that many of the UK’s ports and harbours have the potential to be suitable sites for hosting sub <1MW wind turbines as they feature good wind speeds, a suitable distance from residential properties, and a lack of ecological and landscape constraints.

e-Gen estimates that if just half of the UK’s active freight ports installed a single 800kW turbine they could provide electricity equivalent to the annual demand from over 25,000 houses, while cutting carbon emissions equivalent to those produced by over 13,000 cars on UK roads each year.

The combined wind power capacity of nearly 46 MW would be equivalent to one of the UK’s larger onshore wind farms.

Tom Forsyth director of e-Gen said: “While ports and harbours are gearing up to benefit from the offshore renewables sector, the potential to generate clean electricity themselves remains largely untapped. There is a window of opportunity through financial support from the Feed-in Tariff for businesses to cut their energy costs, secure a 20 year guaranteed income stream and boost green business credentials from small scale wind projects.”

Thursday, 30 May 2013

The proportion of UK electricity generated from gas fell to 16-year lows last year as cheaper coal prices spurred generators into increasing coal-fired power to its greatest share of the electricity mix since 1996, government data shows.

The share of gas-fired power within the UK generation mix fell from 39.9% in 2011 to just 27.5% in 2012, according to provisional government data, while coal burn increased from 29.5% to 39.3% over the same period.

The inversion of the UK’s dominant fuel sources represents a radical shift in electricity generation to the highest percentage of coal-fired power within the energy mix since 1996, and the lowest gas-fired power share since the same year.

“This was due to high gas prices, with several gas stations being run at minimal or zero levels as a result,” the Department of Energy and Climate Change said alongside the data.

In outright terms total coal-fired power was at six-year highs of 142.8 TWh in 2012, up from 108.6 TWh in 2011, but outright gas burn fell to 16-year lows of 99.7 TWh from 146.8 TWh in 2011 as nuclear, renewable energy and electricity imports further eroded the need for expensive gas-fired power.

Nuclear generation rose 2.1% on year to its highest level in six years at 70.4 TWh in 2012, while wind and solar power generation surged 31.5% higher to 20.7 TWh.

In addition, the UK almost doubled its imports of electricity from continental Europe to 12.0 TWh as Dutch imports rose to their highest in 12 years. UK EMISSIONS RISE

Soaring coal-fired power generation data comes just one day after estimates from the European Commission showing the UK’s carbon emissions rising despite an overall decrease in emissions across the EU.

The energy market’s ‘Big Six’ players have heaped pressure on the government today to endures and support gas-fired power or face a shortfall in the amount of energy the UK needs. EnergyUK – which represents EDF Energy, Centrica and more – Angela Knight, head of EnergyUK warned energy secretary Ed Davey that the government needs to reach a decision on a capacity mechanism to determine the UK’s commercial energy usage, describing the matter as ‘urgent’.

UK energy sector emissions rose in 2012 in contrast with the majority of other EU countries, new data shows. The news comes as MPs in the UK get ready for the latest round of debates over the forthcoming energy bill, with key questions still looming over how the government will secure a low carbon future.

Bucking the trend

New European Commission data shows emissions fell by two per cent across the EU, with 23 countries reducing their emissions. But of the five largest economies, two – Germany and the UK – saw emissions increase.

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

The Treasury closed down a 900 million-pound tax loophole on Wednesday by preventing energy firms from claiming money off their tax bills against installation costs dating back decades.The move is the latest step in Britain’s drive to maximise tax receipts as it tries to reduce the country’s budget deficit and lead a global clampdown on aggressive tax avoidance and evasion by multinational firms and wealthy individuals.New legislation will stop gas and electricity distributors from making new claims for tax relief against the cost of providing new or improved supply to commercial premises in cases where the bill has already been met by the company.

A £10 MILLION waste plant near Benson was officially opened on Friday.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was performed by Lord de Mauley, parliamentary under-secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The anaerobic digestion plant in Benson Lane began commissioning waste in January and is currently running at about 75 per cent capacity.

It is able to process up to 45,000 tonnes of waste a year and create enough electrity to power 4,000 households and bio-fertilizer for 2,500 acres of local farm land.

Oxfordshire County Council has a 20-year waste contract with the operator Agrivert.

Lord de Mauley said: “Turning what was once automatically sent to landfill into renewable energy not only makes environment sense, it makes business sense too.

“The waste and recycling sector represents a huge opportunity for UK businesses and will help grow our economy.”

Alexander Maddan, chief executive of Agrivert, said: “The plant will help increase national recycling rates and reduce the volume of material going to landfill while reducing the financial burden on the taxpayer.

“The plant will give the local economy and the agricultural sector a valuable boost during a difficult economic period.” Guests at the opening ceremony included South Oxfordshire District Councillor David Dodds, who is responsible for waste, and Benson parish councillor Patricia Bayliss.

About 120 tonnes of waste are delivered to the plant each day. This waste is decontaminated and processed into a thick soup.

It is then pumped into digesters, where bacteria breaks down the organic material in the absence of oxygen to produce methane.

In south London, Viridor has finally got the go-ahead to build an energy recovery facility next to its landfill site in Beddington.The incinerator will provide South London Waste Partnership and businesses with a cost-effective alternative to landfill and also bring forward the completion and restoration of the existing landfill into green spaces and wildlife habitats.Viridor’s head of development projects Robert Ryan said the ERF was “the right solution for South London’s waste challenge and is one that will deliver real economic, social and environmental benefits”.Further north, Peel Environmental has received the green light from City of York Council to build an anaerobic digestion AD and horticultural glasshouse facility on a former mining site in the region.The AD plant will recover heat and electricity from up to 60,000 tonnes of organic waste per year, generating renewable electricity to power around 3,500 homes.A horticultural glasshouse, which will use some of the heat produced, will be developed alongside the facility and operated by Howden-based specialist Plant Raisers to propagate mainly tomato plants.Peel Environmental director Myles Kitcher said that co-locating waste infrastructure was central to the company’s growth strategy.

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

EDF Energy was handed £1.45 million between April 29 and May 15 to shut down turbines on the Fallago Rig wind farm, which is on land owned by the Duke of Roxburghe in Scottish Borders.

The “constraint payments”, which ultimately come from electricity bills, are given to wind farm companies to compensate them for not producing power during periods of high generation and low demand.

This can happen when it is too windy, in order not to overload the National Grid, or when maintenance work on the Grid is being carried out.

But the 48-turbine development in the Lammermuir Hills only completed testing and came fully online on May 17, two days after the final tranche of the money.

The Conservatives said the payments for not producing electricity – which spiked at more than £320,000 per day – demonstrated the ludicrous consequences for consumers of Alex Salmond’s drive for wind energy in Scotland.

As part of the company’s ‘Plan It Green’ initiative, Holland & Barrett will use Haven Power to supply electricity generated from biomass, a form of stored solar energy.

Biomass, which is produced from organic, plant-based material such as woodchips, is both renewable and sustainable over its entire lifecycle so delivers significant carbon savings.

Throughout Holland & Barrett’s recent history the company said it has committed to working to high environmental standards.

More recently these have include banning single use plastic bags, adopting an ethical policy when sourcing raw materials and removing chemicals such as parabens and sodium lauryl sulphate from toiletry products and body care ranges.

Speaking on the partnership with Haven Power, Roger Craddock, legal director at NBTY Europe, said: “As the UK’s leading health food and natural remedy retailer, we have always been committed to green issues, in many cases making changes to the way we do business long before other high street retailers who have followed our lead.

Ian McCaig, chief executive of supplier First Utility, said bills could overtake home repayments in some parts of Britain within five years. The firm’s research shows dual-fuel bills have risen by 8.5 per cent annually over the last five years, with an average household now forking out £1,420.

Mr McCaig said: “Given interest rates are low and look like staying that way, it could easily be that over the next five to 10 years we’ll see energy bills overtake mortgage costs for some consumers.”

The gloomy forecast came as it emerged British Gas made bumper profits thanks to one of the longest and coldest winters on record.

Demand for electricity and gas jumped 18 per cent during the freeze, yielding an extra £73.80 per customer.

According to rival First Utility’s analysis, average bills would reach £3,761 by 2025 if they continue to rise at their current rate – outstripping mortgage payments in areas including Stoke-on-Trent.

The Government predicts average bills will be just £76 higher by 2020, but the figures rely on assumptions of big rises in the take-up of energy-saving schemes.

The harsh winter, extending into a cold spring, plus price rises expected in the autumn could push the average annual dual fuel bill up by 10 per cent to £1,600.

The warning comes as the energy giants write to customers who pay by direct debit to tell them they face big increases in their monthly payments to recoup costs for “exceptional” use over the past few months.

Mark Todd, the founder of energyhelpline.com, hit out at the “cruel reality that customers are paying more and more as the companies make more profits”.

He said industry rumours suggest the big six suppliers – E.ON, British Gas, EDF Energy, npower, Scottish Power and SSE – will increase prices by five to 10 per cent by the end of the year. He said: “Customers have already been hit by a double whammy of price rises last year followed by the long winter which pushed up energy usage. The average annual bill is expected to hit £1,495 with this extra cost. If, as we suspect, they hike prices again in the autumn, this could add another £100.”

On the question of increased direct debit payments Marc Gander, founder of the Consumer Action Group, said: “I am amazed they can just get away with it.”

He and other experts said millions of trusting customers – many still in credit – will hand over larger monthly payments without realising they are entitled to refuse changes to their direct debits.

The direct debit increase comes just days after British Gas vowed to use profits from increased winter usage to halt price rises “for as long as possible”.

Now it says the increase is necessary to cover the extra heating costs built up by customers over an unusually extended period of cold weather.

Millions struggling to already pay soaring rises in their monthly energy charges will be hit by yet more price hikes by the end of the year.

The long winter and bleak spring, combined with anticipated price rises in the autumn could push the average annual dual fuel bill up by between five and 10 per cent to £1,600.

Households are already facing unwelcome notices from energy giants who are demanding that those who pay by direct debit will have to increase their payments after using so much energy during the extended freezing weather.

Thursday, 23 May 2013

After a slow start in the UK, car manufacturers are finally starting to seriously invest in the British electric car industry.

With major cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester now connected with a network of charging points and designated parking spaces, 2013 could be the year the electric car takes the UK by storm.

But it’s not all about electric cars – many petrol and hybrid cars have such low-emissions they are considered “green cars”.

So what are the best cars to choose from in 2013?

Nissan Leaf

Voted World Car of the Year in 2011, from 2013 the Nissan Leaf is the first electric car to be built in the UK. The Leaf is the UK’s best-selling electric car to date – with Nissan customers attracted to its cleek design which gives it the look of a conventional petrol-driven car.

The top-speed is 90 mph and the range is 100 miles, after an 8-hour charge from a standard home electric socket. With prices starting from £25,990, it may seem out of your reach, but if you apply for car finance with bad credit you could find good deals online.

Peugeot iOn

The main competitor to the Leaf, this compact hatchback is attractive for its free road tax, excellent security features and low-running costs thanks to its electric motor.

It’s the first four-seater and four-door all-electric car to become available in the UK, but is spacious enough to be the practical city runner its designers intended.

The top speed is 84 mph and the battery range is 93 miles; the car can be bought from £26,216.

12 months have passed since launching the Pelamis P2 wave energy machine off the coast of Orkney in Scotland, and it’s owners have heralded it’s ‘encouraging’ results after a full year in use. One of the first of it’s kind, the Pelamis P2 is a wave energy converter owned by ScottishPower Renewables, who have posted up the statistics from the device today – making for some interesting reading.

Racked up 7500 hours connected to the grid (an average of around 20 per day)

Exported over 160MWh to the grid

Part of the European Marine Energy Centre, the P2 has undergone a rigorous first year of testing, and has been monitored stringently for it’s energy output by the team in Orkney since being powered-on in May 2012.

Parliament has today confirmed the Energy Bill’s next reading will take place as expected on 3 and 4 June, offering the industry reassurance that the landmark legislation could now make significant progress before the summer recess.

The move also means that the showdown over the proposed inclusion of a binding decarbonisation target in the Bill will take place in the first week of June, as a cross-party group of MPs are widely expected to table an amendment that would require the government to introduce a target next year.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Imagine a future where solar panels speed off the presses, like newspaper. Australian scientists have brought us one step closer to that reality.

Researchers from the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) have developed a printer that can print 10 metres of flexible solar cells a minute. Unlike traditional silicon solar cells, printed solar cells are made using organic semi-conducting polymers, which can be dissolved in a solvent and used like an ink, allowing solar cells to be printed.

12 months have passed since launching the Pelamis P2 wave energy machine off the coast of Orkney in Scotland, and it’s owners have heralded it’s ‘encouraging’ results after a full year in use. One of the first of it’s kind, the Pelamis P2 is a wave energy converter owned by ScottishPower Renewables, who have posted up the statistics from the device today – making for some interesting reading.

Racked up 7500 hours connected to the grid (an average of around 20 per day)

Exported over 160MWh to the grid

Part of the European Marine Energy Centre, the P2 has undergone a rigorous first year of testing, and has been monitored stringently for it’s energy output by the team in Orkney since being powered-on in May 2012.

Homeowners taking out a loan under the government’s Green Deal energy efficiency scheme could find themselves having to pay off the debt before they can sell their property, according to consumer body Which?

Since January, householders have been able to sign up to the Green Deal, which allows them to pay for energy efficiency improvements in their home with no, or little, upfront cost; instead, these are funded by a loan repaid through their electricity bill.

Crucially, the “golden rule” of Green Deal is that you should not pay back more in loan repayments than you are saving on your energy bill – but this can mean that, depending on the cost of the improvement, you could be making loan repayments for as long as 25 years. The loan is attached to the property’s electricity bill until it is paid off, so if the person who has set up the deal moves house, the bill falls to the new owner.

Research by Which? shows that of the 2,070 people it surveyed in April 2013, a fifth (21%) would reconsider buying a home if it had a Green Deal loan attached to it. Almost half of prospective buyers (46%) would want a Green Deal loan paid off before they would purchase the property.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “With rising energy prices still one of the top consumer worries, measures that help people make their homes more energy efficient are vital to help save money on bills.

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

According to an analysis by environment & engineering consultancy WSP, London has ranked lowest in the UK for uptake of solar panels.

The UK Government’s most recent uptake figures published in April 2013 showed that 362,000 homes have installed solar panels in the UK since April 2010; approximately one roof in every 70 or around 7% of households. However, the uptake differs across the country, with London authorities making up 23 of the 25 ranked bottom of the league table of all 380 local authorities in the UK.

WSP’s analysis of the uptake showed that, despite concerns that solar panels would be the domain of the affluent only, due to high upfront costs, location is actually a far stronger factor. Affluence appears to be a weak factor only in determining installation rates.

Dumfries and Galloway, parts of Herefordshire and parts of Devon showed above average panel installation (one out of 40 roofs) but have some of the lowest per capita income. The Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland have similar levels of installation despite sunshine levels which are far below those in Southern England.

The strongest indicator for panel installation was, in fact, rural versus urban living. Installation rates in London, the Welsh Valleys and in the West Midlands lag far behind more rural areas in mid Wales and Cornwall and this was consistent across the UK.

“While we might think that cities should be happy hunting grounds for solar sales, in reality houses in towns are smaller, their roofs are more likely to be obscured and there’s also less owner occupation,” said WSP director David Symons. “Flats and apartments also have more than one household, but only one roof. In contrast, houses in the country tend to be larger and have more space, so it’s more economical to put a panel on a roof in the country than in the city. What seems clear is that – when combined with biomass, anaerobic digestion facilities and wind – there’s an increasing trend for the countryside to be the renewable power station of the city.”

The government’s energy bill will enter its report stage on June 3 and 4, with MPs given the chance to have their say on how the UK goes forward in the energy sector.

The stage will include a vote on whether to incorporate a 2030 decarbonisation target – something that a number of MPs, including Conservative Tim Yeo and Labour’s Barry Gardiner, have been calling for since the bill was released in December.

“After constant delays, the government is finally giving MPs a vote on the future of Britain’s energy system”, said Guy Shrubsole, energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth.

“There is a clear choice: MPs can back Tim Yeo’s amendment for a clean power target – unlocking investment in affordable renewable energy and thousands of new UK jobs – or give in to Osborne’s polluting and costly dash for gas.

“We urge every MP to join the nearly 300 politicians from all parties who already back the amendment to vote for a clean power target.

Creative ideas come from everywhere, but it’s not often you see a search engine giving utilities business advice. A new white paper from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) could improve renewable energy’s value add for tech companies, utilities, and renewable-energy stakeholders everywhere. Here’s what you need to know.

Ramping up renewables

Google may seem like nothing more than a search page, but its energy use is astounding. To offset its emissions, the company has invested more than $1 billion in renewable-energy projects, installed solar panels at its Mountain View headquarters, and purchased more than 260 MW of wind power to help power its data centers.

Equitix Ltd., a London-based investment company, is investing 10 million pounds ($15 million) in a project to replace inefficient heating systems in public and private facilities with wood-powered boilers.

Equitix is investing 4.9 million pounds through its Energy Saving Investments fund, whose investors include the U.K. Green Investment Bank, it said today in an e-mailed statement. It’s sourcing a further 5.1 million pounds from its Energy Efficiency Fund. The plan may support as many as 60 projects that will cut bills by as much as 30 percent and carbon-dioxide emissions.

The project will provide “a low-cost and straightforward way for a range of organizations like schools, leisure centers and local businesses to switch their old, inefficient and high emission boilers for new energy-efficient biomass ones; saving energy, cutting emissions and saving them money,” GIB Chief Executive Officer Shaun Kingsbury said in the statement.

The investment is being made through Roundwood Energy Ltd., which will fund, install, maintain and fuel the heating systems for as long as 20 years. It’s working with Woodpecker Energy Ltd., a maker of wood pellet and wood chip biomass boilers.

Britain’s green energy ‘folly’ will cost every family an extra £600 a year by 2020, a report warned last night.

The cost to consumers of green energy subsidies will exceed £16billion a year within seven years, according to a leading industry analyst.

Dr John Constable, director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, warned that the huge burden on taxpayers could lead to the first long-term decline in living standards since the Industrial Revolution.

He estimates that a third of the £600 annual cost will land on energy bills.

The rest will be borne by businesses who will pass on the costs to consumers by charging higher prices for their goods.

In a report titled Are Green Times Just Around The Corner?, he said: ‘Shifting to current renewables for the bulk of our energy would result in a reversal of the long-run economic trend since the Industrial Revolution.

‘More people would be working for lower wages in the energy sector, energy costs would rise, the economy would stagnate and there would also be a significant decline in people’s standard of living.’

He added: ‘The annual additional cost to consumers will be upwards of £16billion a year in 2020, which is over 1 per cent of current GDP.

‘One third of this cost would hit households directly through their electricity bills, regardless of income, making it an intensely regressive measure.

‘The remainder of the cost would be passed through from industrial and commercial customers and eventually be met by households from increases in the cost of living. The total impact would be in the order of £600 per household per year, assuming there are 26million households.’

Greedy energy giants have pushed up household bills by more than £250 a year and given their profits a multi-billion pound boost.

New research reveals today that power industry mark-ups – the difference between what firms pay for energy and the price they charge customers – ­rocketed by 39% for electricity and 69% for gas in the past 10 years.

That has added more than £91 to the typical home’s electricity bill and a whopping £165 on what we pay for gas.

One energy boss is now warning that power bills could soon outstrip mortgages as our major household expense.

And it means firms are pocketing more than £6billion extra than a decade ago.

The shocking figures have been unearthed by Labour’s Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint, who says they show that it’s the greed of energy fatcats that is driving up power bills.

She said: “They always blame rising global energy prices for putting up people’s bills, but these figures show they’ve been increasing their profits on the back of spiralling energy bills for hard-pressed households.

“If they won’t treat customers fairly, the public deserve tough action. Labour would create a tough new energy watchdog with the power to force firms to cut prices when the cost of energy falls.”

In 2002 the wholesale price of electricity was 1.67p a unit and the retail price 8.9p, giving the industry a mark-up of 7.23p. By 2012 the retail cost was 4.51p and the retail price 14.5p, increasing the mark-up by 39% to 9.99p. The equivalent figures for gas saw the wholesale cost rise from 0.55p to 2.05p and the retail from 2p to 4.5p, raising the mark-up from 1.45p to 2.45p – a 69% rise.